University of Houston
Rice
Volleyball Sweeps Rice to Open Houston Tournament
9/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 13, 2007
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HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team swept the Rice Owls in front of a packed house Thursday night to open the Houston Tournament. The Cougars won in three games with scores of 30-22, 30-23 and 30-27.
Junior Justine Farmer led the Cougars (4-6, 1-0) with a game-high 17 kills. Junior Kelsey King returned to the line-up and added 35 assists.
"I thought that we served really well. Our middle attack was a little inconsistent and we didn't use Erin (Rice) enough. My outside hitters, hitting pipe, especially Justine (Farmer) weren't noticing which two blockers were blocking her and she didn't take advantage of it," head coach Bill Walton said.
Houston now holds a 56-12 lead in the all-time series and are 30-11 with Walton at the helm. The Cougars are 3-1 against the Owls in the last two seasons.
Houston jumped out to a 13-6 lead in game one but allowed Rice to mount a comeback and get within three at 20-17. But five straight points allowed the Cougars to increase their lead and eventually earn the win.
After notching wins in the first two games, Rice wasn't about to give Houston the sweep. When it looked like the Cougars were going to win in convincing fashion, Rice, trailing 15-9, called a quick timeout only to return and tie the game at 21-21. Houston battled hard and took a 30-27 win to open conference play.
Leading the Owls were Natalie Bogan and Meredith Schamun with 12 kills and 31 assists, respectively.
The Cougars will play their second match of the tournament Friday at 7pm against Stephen F. Austin. Prior to the match Rice will face Wake Forest at 5pm. The tournament will conclude Saturday with three matches and Houston will play Wake Forest at 7pm.
"We are going to play a team in Stephen F. Austin that prides themselves in scrambling and keeping the ball in play. Rice made a lot of errors and Stephen F. Austin won't make a lot of errors. They will keep it (the ball) coming back. We won almost every long rally tonight and there will be more of those tomorrow night and we have to win those," Walton said.
Live stats will be available for each match by logging on to www.UHCougars.com and clicking on the volleyball link.
